Elinah & Amarah improving in leaps & bounds in UK
The sisters, who have proudly represented the Virgin Islands at various swim meets, have been missing from the pool since late last year after moving to the United Kingdom (UK).
“We have adjusted well and quickly here in the UK. We attend Onslow St. Audrey’s School, Hatfield, Hertfordshire and swim for Hatfield Swimming Club. We are enjoying it here in the UK and hope to be able to visit [the VI] sometime during school holidays,” the sisters told Virgin Islands News Online.
The two promising swimmers have actually improved in leaps and bounds since and have improved on all their previous personal best times. “We train quite regularly, 8 times a week, mornings and evenings and we compete 1 to 2 times a month. We swam well in our last meet in Bristol, it was just the second time that we competed in a long course meet in the UK, so we are still getting used to them and we swum races that we had not swum before, we also got some new personal bests at that meet,” the duo related.
The girls’ father, Mr Elsworth Phillip, stated that Amarah and Elinah are both ranked in the top 25 in 4 of their individual events at the County level and the top 50 at the Regional level. Elinah is ranked second in the 50 freestyle and third in the 50 butterfly at the UK National level in her age group. He said she has also established 4 meet records, including a County record.
Meanwhile, the sisters noted that whenever they compete, they feel that they are representing the VI and added that they might be representing the VI again at regional meets; in July at the Central American and Caribbean Championships (C.C.C.A.N) and in November at the OECS Swimming Championships.
The Phillip Sisters last represented the Virgin Islands at the St Thomas Stingrays Invitational on June 3, 2012 and before then at the Carifta Swimming Championships in the Bahamas in April, 2012. It was the first time that the Virgin Islands was represented at that meet.
“We would encourage anyone competing in any sport to work hard, have dedication, stay focused and remember to practice, practice, practice, then all things will fall in place," were the sisters' parting words.
Virgin Islands News Online will continue to follow the progress of the two talented VI swimmers.
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